¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬Meredith Barton was having one heck of a weekend. Not only was she dealing with constant crap from Dylan (that at least, she could handle), but then her teacher gets on her case, and her long-lost sister shows up, now her mom is supposedly alive and the same said sister is going to rescue her. Well, I am soo not going to sit her and let her have all the fun, thought Meri. Slowly peeking out the car window, she put her hand on the door handle. Noticing no one was around, she stepped outside of the car. After a tense moment where nothing happened, Meri let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Stupid Luce, thinks she knows everything. HA!" Meri grumbled, under her breath. She marched towards the alley Luce had disappeared down, mumbling curses towards Luce, her father, and any other person who didn't think was capable. Meri was so caught up in her thoughts, she didn't even notice the man approaching her. "Once I see her I'll just- Oh!" Meri ran face first into the broad chest of a very scary man. Before she even had time to react, the man had grabbed Meri by the arms, effectively pinning them to her sides.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" The speaker, was not the man holding her. Meri twisted her head, trying to see around her captor. This man was tall and reedy, a body his voice matches, Meri thought. She scowled at the man, not even thinking to play an innocent girl. She squirmed a bit, trying to dislodge her arms. "What we have here is an innocent girl, taken captive." Meri narrowed her eyes as the man laughed.
"Oh that is a good one. It's been a while since I heard a joke that funny." The man smiled coldly, then said something in another language to the man holding her. Meri struggled more fiercely, suddenly afraid. Suddenly aware that these were not nice men, that these were the men Luce had warned her about. The man shook her roughly, and Meri was sure there would be bruises on her arms later. If she would ever live to see them. The tall man said something else to her captor and then suddenly Meri was being dragged along into the shawarma shop. They passed through the kitchen, and where heading back to the industrial freezer. Meri fought harder convinced they were going to toss her in the freezer to rot and die. Then, she felt a sharp pain on her temple, the tall man had smacked her. "Now, that's enough of that." Meri's head throbbed, her vision blurred. She lost sense of time for a moment and now she was in a large grey room surrounded by people. Her arms were free now, but when she tried to move, she felt something cold against her throat. Meri blinked away the confusion. She was standing, a knife to her throat. She recognized her father, and Luce. Uncle Phil was there, as well as a few members of the strike team she recognized. There was a red-haired women standing by Clint that she didn't recognize.
"Now, it's really simple what I want." The tall man was saying. He stalked around the room.
"We don't negotiate." said Phil. His voice was resolute but his eyes darted to Meri, she tried to smile at him but flinched when the knife was pressed closer to her throat. Meri felt a warm trickle of blood, and tried desperately not to think about death. She studied the faces of the people in the room instead. Phil was calm, as always, the strike team was virtually expressionless. The crazy tall man had a look of absolutely serenity and Clint looked like he was going to kill someone. Which only makes sense I guess, Meri thought. The red-haired women's face was a mask, but her eyes darted all over taking things in. At last, Meri turned to Luce. Her twin was shooting Phil an expression Meri could only categorize as furious. Apparently he said something she didn't like. Which isn't surprising either, Luce seems to have a thing against authority, she thought. Then Luce faced Meri, their eyes met. Meri watched as Luce slowly reached behind her, not breaking eye contact. In that instant, Meri knew exactly what to do. She brought up her arms and shoved the arm holding the knife to her throat away. The man didn't put up a fight because Luce's knife was already embedded in his chest. Meri dropped to the floor as bullets erupted around her. She tried to cover her head and scoot back towards a wall at the same time. Her heart pounded fiercely. A man ran up to her, grabbing her legs. She screamed and kicked back at him, connecting solidly with his face. He jerked back and then spasmed, falling to the ground as blood poured out of the fresh bullet hole in his head. Meri looked at him in shock, unmoving. At first she thought she had gone deaf, but then she realized the fighting had stopped. Meri didn't move, just sat there staring at the dead man.
"Meri! Meredith!" Her father's voice rang out and then suddenly she was in his arms. Meri buried her face in his shoulder and took deep breaths. I am okay, I am alive, she thought. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced the image from her mind, then looked up at her dad, calmer.
"So listen, there's this parent-teacher conference thing…" Meri started to say, and her dad laughed,
"You are in so much trouble, Meredith Barton."
"I'm in trouble, it wasn't even my idea!" She pushed herself out of Clint's arms, smiling. Then looked around for the culprit. It was some serious twin telepathy that she and Luce had managed to pull that off. Meri wasn't quite sure what happened, but it seemed to have worked out. She scanned the room. The strike team was cuffing a few guys and Phil was arguing with someone on the phone. Luce, it looked like had hugged the red-haired women and was now babbling to her in Russian. With a start, Meri realized that the women must be her mother. "Dad, dad is that…" Meredith said quietly, not taking her eyes off the women. "Yeah, kiddo, it is." He said. Neither made a move to get up though. It was Luce that started running towards them. "Oh my gosh, Meri I am SO sorry!" Luce slid to her knees and threw her arms around her twin. Meri froze,
"Um, it's okay, I guess. I mean, we did it, in the end." Meri's voice was hesitant. Luce pulled back and looked Meri in the eyes, face shining. "That was totally epic was is not? The way you just knew like that." A grin spread on Luce's face, and Meri couldn't help but smile back. It had been pretty cool. Before she could agree, Clint cut in.
"Speaking of…" He trailed off, giving Luce a stern look. Meri had been on the receiving end of that look many times, but Luce didn't waver. Instead she just shrugged. Clint nodded, and bit his lip unamused. "Walk with me, won't you?" He said to Luce, and then headed away without waiting for a response. Luce looked at Meri, who just shrugged. She sighed, then stood and took after Clint. Meri didn't fancy being in Luce's shoes. If Meri knew anything at all, she was probably in for a long lecture. Sure enough, as soon as they were out of earshot, Clint started gesturing, his face furious. Luce just folded her arms and glared at him.
"I don't doubt you've seen this side of him before," Natasha's voice was soft, and she gave Meri a half-smile as she spoke. Meri looked at her, and grinned ruefully, "You'd be right, but I haven't since Luce showed up. I think I might keep her around." Natasha laughed at that. It was a sound that filled Meri with instant warmth. It was a nice laugh, not unlike Pepper's, but there was something kinder in Natasha's laugh. It made Meri want to make her laugh again. Yet, they sat in silence. Meri not wanting to say the wrong thing, for fear of driving her off and Natasha simply being too tired, and afraid she might upset her newly found daughter. Finally, Meri worked up the courage,
"So, are you going to come back?" She looked at Natasha with what she hoped was a neutral expression, but there was no avoiding the hope in her voice. "Yeah kiddo, she is." Clint had come up to them, apparently finished telling Luce off. He smiled at Meri, and helped her to her feet. Then, he turned to Natasha, "She isn't going anywhere, ever again." The two held eye contact for a long moment. The romantic silence was broken by Luce loudly groaning,
"Ugh, you two are making me sick! Just kiss already!" She rolled her eyes dramatically. Natasha looked at her daughter then said something in Russian that made Luce blush, "whatever," she mumbled. "I hate to break up the family the reunion, but we need to leave, now." Phil Coulson approached the group. Apparently, he had finally gotten off the phone, and was now packing it up. "Alright, we've got vans outside, we'll take separate routes and meet back at HQ." Clint nodded and reached out a hand, Natasha took it, standing. "We're taking separate cars, Luce and Hawkeye you're with me, Widow and Meredith, you're with Agent Dowell." Phil barked. Clint started to protest, but Phil shut him down, "It's a five minute drive Barton, you'll survive." That seemed to be the end of the conversation, but the next thing Meri knew she was being bundled into an SUV and shuttled across New York City. ...
Luce sat on the medical examination table, frowning. She was fine really. A few scratches and some lasting bruises, but she'd had worse. The doctor however, would not stop fussing. All it took was Clint mentioning the car accident and then Luce had yet to have a moments rest. Now she was to be checked for a concussion and then broken bones, as if she wouldn't have noticed. As she sat in her gloom, Luce realized she could have it worse. She could be Meri. Meri was in another room, surrounded by doctor's checking for all sorts of damage. Sheesh, one little prick on the neck and the next thing you know… Luce got distracted from her thoughts by a nurse trying to stab her with something. She smacked the nurse's hand away. "That's enough of that, thank you." She glared at the nurse, then hopped down from the table. Luckily, was still in her clothes from before and hadn't been forced into a hospital gown.
"Miss, you aren't cleared to leave yet," the nurse called as Luce walked to the door.
"Does it look like I care?" Luce said to no one as she pushed open the door and exited into the hall. It was empty, and Luce wasn't quite sure where she was going. She just knew that if she sat in that room for one more second, she might actually kill someone. Deciding on a direction, Luce headed down the hall. The walls were blank white, and the doors were completely covered. There was no way to tell what led to where, and the effect was disorienting. Luce thought that was probably the point. Then an escapee doesn't know where to go. Just like her, she supposed. As she walked down the hall, she heard Meri's voice coming through a door,
"I told you, I'm fine, I just want to go home." Her voice was tired and pleading.
"I know honey, we will. I just want to make sure you're okay." A painful lump rose in Luce's throat, but she shoved it down. There was no reason to be jealous of Meri, or of the way Clint talked to her. It was ridiculous. Still, Luce couldn't help but feel a little sad. Angrily, Luce stalked passed the door, more determined than ever to get out of this wing. She made it to the end of the hall and turned right, nearly running into someone. "Oh, Meri I'm sor… wait are you?" The agent in question hesitated, studying Luce.
"I am, looking for Agent Romanoff." She looked pointedly at the agent, who blinked in surprise.
"Oh I'm not sure I…" he hesitated again, but looking at Luce thought better of it, "She's in debrief." "Which is…" "A floor down." "Right, thanks." She pushed passed the agent, impatiently. The elevators were thankfully just behind him. She stalked into one and turned, giving the agent a sickly sweet smile, as the doors shut. This floor had a lot more agents roaming around. None of them gave her any trouble though, and were more than happy to direct her to the conference room. When Luce reached the door, she didn't even think to knock, just twisted the knob and barged right in.
"Miss Barton," the woman rose from her chair, stopping their conversation mid-sentence. The woman had brown hair and was wearing a standard SHIELD suit. She was looking at Luce with surprise. Natasha, spun around in her chair from where she had been sitting across from the woman,
"Hey sweetheart, have a nice trip?" Her voice was cajoling, and it instantly put Luce at ease. She didn't realize how much she had missed her mom in the few days they'd been apart. "Oh yeah, angry silence is the best." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. She had sat in the backseat arms crossed glaring daggers at Clint. He had refused to say anything to her, even after they got to HQ, just directed an agent to "Take her to medical." Natasha smiled,
"And I suppose you didn't deserve that?" Luce flopped down in the chair next to her mom,
"Of course not, you know I'm an angel. I never do anything wrong." She smiled at Natasha, who quirked an eyebrow. The woman meanwhile had settled back into her chair and watched then bemused.
"Lucille I'm-" she started to say,
"It's Luce." "Luce then," she began again, unfazed, "I'm Director Hill, I'm in charge of all things SHIELD, and right now that means talking to your mother, in private." Luce blinked at her, but made no move to go. Director Hill held her gaze for a moment, then turned to Natasha. Her mom just shrugged,
"She already knows everything I could tell you, Hill." The woman sighed, then clicked her pen, tapping it on the pad of paper in front of her. "Okay. Well, I think I have everything I need for now anyway." She stood, as the door opened. An agent peeked her head in, "Director you're needed in the situation room." Hill nodded at her, and the door shut. "Okay, well you two are free to go, but Nat, go to medical first please?" The director looked at Natasha until she nodded her agreement, then headed out the door. Luce spun to face her mom, quickly checking her over. She didn't see any bullet holes, but that didn't mean she wasn't injured. Luce stood,
"C'mon we might as well. It's about time I rescued Meri from those goons anyway." Her mom followed as Luce led the way out the door and down the hall.
"You two got close then huh?" She looked at Luce carefully. Luce shrugged,
"I dunno, sort of I guess." She didn't elaborate and Natasha didn't push her to. After a moments silence, spoke again, "I mean, it's more of a like, feeling thing. Like, I don't know anything about her, but something just feels right, you know?" She looked up at her mom for confirmation. Natasha smiled, "I expect it's a twin thing Lu." Luce nodded, and they walked on. Finally, they had reached the door where Luce had heard Meri's voice. She threw open the door and shouted,
"I've come to save you!" Meri looked up, startled, from where she lay on a bed,
"Oh thank god, I've been going crazy." She brushed back her curly hair, and smiled at Luce. Luce grinned back, only faltering briefly upon noticing the bandage on her throat.
"What do you say we blow this Popsicle stand?" "I think that's brilliant." Meri hopped down from her bed, and shoved her feet into her shoes. The two headed out the door back to where Natasha was waiting. Natasha it seemed, was being accosted by a doctor determined to look her over.
"For the last time Dr. Nelson, I just need a good night's sleep."
"You say that every time Natasha."
"Yes, well," Her eyes landed on Meri and Luce, "Oh girls, you're ready! Great, let's go." Natasha turned away from the doctor and put one arm around each of them, steering them away from the doctor and down the hall. "You look great Meredith."
"Um it's just Meri, but um, thanks." Meri stumbled as they paced towards the direction of the elevators. Once inside, Natasha visible relaxed, "I hate hospitals" she mumbled in Russian, and Luce smirked. Natasha leaned against a wall and turned to Meri,
"Where'd your father end up?"
"Um he's with Agent Coulson I think, in the situation room." Natasha sighed. "Okay, detour: get Clint, and then we're all headed to a nice warm bed, sound good?" She looked to each of them, and Luce and Meri nodded eagerly. She hadn't realized it until her mother mentioned it, but Luce was bone-tired. Suddenly, her limbs felt heavy and her eyes were fighting to stay open. Not sleeping and fighting for your life, does that to you, Luce had come to realize. The elevator doors opened, and Luce blearily followed Natasha and Meri down the hall. Natasha threw open double-wide doors, and marched into a room. It was almost identical to the room Luce had been in two days ago or was it three? She couldn't remember. People were gathered around a large screen with a map, and blinking dots. It was a buzz of activity, but Natasha cleared her way through the people and marched right up to where Clint was speaking with Coulson. "Okay, but we have to consider," he was saying, and then noticed the three of them "Tasha." He gazed at Natasha.
"Clint," she said softly, "Listen, I'm tired, the girls are tired, and we just want to go home and sleep. Can't this wait?" She looked at him pleading. He sighed and rubbed his face,
"I want to Nat but something's come up…" Whatever else he was saying got lost as the edges of Luce's vision blurred. Confused she put her hand out, to steady her balance. Instead she careened face first towards the floor. Clint jumped, grabbing her before she hit the floor,
"And that's what no sleep and a concussion gets you," his voice was distant, as if he was speaking behind glass, "Coulson I thought she wasn't supposed to leave the infirmary?"
"She wasn't, but you know what happens when we try and tell Luce to stay anywhere." Luce felt rather than heard Clint chuckle. She was cradled against his chest now. Head a bit clearer now, Luce struggled against him,
"I'm perfectly fine, put me down." She glared at him.
"If you say so," he said, letting her go carefully. Luce stood for a moment, and then took a few steps and stumbled to the ground. "That's what I thought." He said, picking her up again. "Coulson, I'm going to take these guys home, but I expect updates." Luce thought that Coulson replied, but it was lost again as she faded out. ...